Exploring the city of La Maddalena, to the east of the island, you will notice a huge glass cube. What is it? This is what remains of the G8 Summit planned for 2009 in the area of the former Arsenale that unfortunately never hosted the big names of the international politic scene.
The terrible earthquake in L’Aquila and the summit cancelled
The summit was supposed to promote tourism in the Archipelago and the presence of military authorities were supposed to guarantee the participants‘ security. Preparations were on going until 3 months before the summit a terrible earthquake in L’Aquila happened. Immediately after the Italian Government decided to move such an important political event there. The politicians moved he summit to Abruzzi for 2 reasons. First to give a sign of revival to such a badly hit town, second because one of the topics of the summit was supposed to be natural disasters.
Louis Vuitton Trophy
In La Maddalena, unfortunately, only the official logo with a globe and sea turtles and various unused buildings remain. In the meantime Mita Resort Ltd, a company that was supposed to run the resort terminated the agreement. For the moment the Main Conference Centre, this is the name of the huge glass cube, and the jetties have hosted only a world famous sport event – Luis Vuitton Trophy in 2010, since then the entire complex has been abandoned.
What is inside?
While waiting for the Region of Sardinia to make some essential decisions and re-qualify the complex as an important touristic-cultural resort, here is a short list of what is inside: a former arsenal with 600 moorings with at least 6 of them for 100 metre long luxury yachts that would be the envy of even such ports as Barcelona, the Main Conference Centre with an extra luxury hotel that boasts an 110,00 euro Zaha Hadid chandelier in the lobby, elegant and luxurious rooms, spa, Turkish bath, gym, large salon paved with a single block of marble (to better show the geometry of the veins), the largest lift in Europe and other supplementary facilities such as shops, restaurants and swimming pools.
